A Wisconsin man is behind bars after a woman escaped a brutal attack that could have been much worse, authorities say.

Ismael Hernandez-Padilla, 39, stands accused of one count each of strangulation and suffocation, battery, disorderly conduct and bail jumping, according to the Dane County Sheriff”s Office. The defendant is also being held on an immigration detainer filed the day of his arrest, records show.

The incident occurred near a gas station on Packers Avenue a little after 11 p.m. on Sunday, according to an incident report by the Madison Police Department.

The victim said she had left her apartment to walk to the gas station and was walking through a vacant lot when an assailant jumped out of the bushes and grabbed the back of her jacket, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Madison-based CBS and MyNetworkTV affiliate WISC.

Then, the woman said, the man pulled her backward into the bushes.

In the ensuing attack, the man began by punching her in the face, according to the complaint. Soon, the victim said, she was on her back. Then, the man allegedly got on top of her and continued to punch her. Next, she was strangled to the point of being unable to breathe.

In her comments to law enforcement, the woman could not recall whether she was conscious for the entirety of the encounter. And, while the victim said she feared being sexually assaulted, the attacker never touched her in such a way at all, according to the complaint.

Still, fearing for the worst, the woman decided to feign her response to the violence and “played dead” by shutting her eyes and stilling her body. After a while like this, she told police, the man got off of her and then, finally, kicked her legs to make sure she wasn’t moving.

Then, she said, the attacker walked off.

And so did she.

“Police spotted the injured woman while walking to the police station to report the attack,” the police department wrote in the report.

Investigators said the woman had redness and swelling around her right eye, her nose was cut and bleeding, and red marks spanned her neck and upper chest, according to the complaint.

The woman, identified as 57 years old, later rode around the area with officers and identified Hernandez-Padilla as the man responsible.

During his arrest, the defendant allegedly admitted to hurting the woman but said he did so in response to her stealing a $100 bill from him. The woman, in turn, denied stealing any money from Hernandez-Padilla – and said the man never spoke to her before the attack.

Police did not find any $100 bills on the woman, according to the complaint. Officers did, however, find what she identified as some of her belongings at the scene of the crime – including glasses and a lighter.

Hernandez-Padilla made an initial appearance in court on Tuesday. He is next slated to appear in court on Sept. 23 for a preliminary hearing. The defendant is currently being detained in the Dane County Jail on $7,500 bond – though that may be moot due to his immigration hold.

The defendant was previously charged with three misdemeanor counts in a May 2024 case, court records show. In that earlier case, Hernandez-Padilla stands accused of one count of lewd or lascivious behavior by exposure and two counts of sexual assault in the fourth degree.